


the name of the game

by iinamorata



Category: Good Morning Call (TV)
Genre: F/M, They're adults in this, handling adult business, made the rating teen and up just incase bc there's discussion of Sex n just . bad language, talking about adult things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25433566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iinamorata/pseuds/iinamorata
Summary: No, she's not in love with Uehara, but she never really needed to be.
Relationships: Mitsuishi Yuichi & Yoshikawa Nao, Natsume Shu/Yoshikawa Nao
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	the name of the game

**Author's Note:**

> for some reason i'm obsessed w the idea of nao being more shrewd/crafty than she lets on

Sometimes Nao wondered about herself, wondered who she was and what she was like and what people thought when they saw her.

From Uehara she guessed the answer was something along the lines of: clueless, naive, foolish, _girl_.

She doesn't think it's entirely wrong for him to think so, just that maybe he should consider that there might be a more to her than just that, than just the fact that she sometimes trusted people too much and still had the stance of an outsider trying to make herself comfortable in a new environment.

There are things he doesn't know about her, like the fact that she's had a boyfriend before him, that she gets good enough grades to be considered a teacher's pet in a lot of her classes, or that she isn't head over heels in love with him.

Nao likes him enough, she really does. She likes the look of his hair when he's just stumbled out of bed, the little things he does to please her when he doesn't think she's looking, and she could admit that she rather enjoyed how handsome he was, too. But Uehara had always been much too involved with himself for her to consider loving him.

Not that he was an inattentive boyfriend, not really. She suspected that Uehara just simply couldn't help the way he was sometimes, irritated and cold and unfeeling. Focused so utterly on his future, his plans, his life. Sometimes he just simply didn't have the time to spare her a second glance, to offer more than a grunt in response to a question. She didn't blame him for it, at first. But any time she attempted to bring it up, any time she began to ask if he could just put away some time on the weekend for the two of them, she was shut down spectacularly.

She knew how he saw her sometimes, that he thought she was clingy and annoying _,_ latching on tightly and refusing to let him go.

Nao had no idea how to tell him that that was _normal,_ that she was just being a regular girlfriend.

If he thought _she_ was overbearing, she wouldn't want to think about what it might be like once he realised all girls were more or less like this.

So no, she's not in love with Uehara, but she never really needed to be.

Not that she'd ever tell him that though, or any of her friends for that matter. She didn't really think they'd understand, she thought that they probably just assumed she loved him anyway, that they probably assumed he loved her too. Uehara seemed to be convinced of this himself, which surprised Nao a little bit. For a boy who boasted his cleverness and intuition, he was surprisingly blind to his own feelings. Still, she wouldn't be the one to break the news to him, so she let him continue thinking it, she let him continue believing what they had was love.

Another thing that Uehara didn't know about Nao. She was a big fan of self preservation.

*

So, her life at college was beginning to look a lot like her life at high school.

Nao would breeze through her classes, go on the occasional date with Uehara when he had the time, and in her spare time she was doing a mix of trading phone calls with distant friends who were scattered across Japan or picking up and discarding new hobbies left and right.

It's fine, for a while. And then it gets _boring_.

"Are you okay? Is everything alright with Uehara?" Mitsuishi asks, concern lacing his features.

Nao merely groans, the sound muffled from the wood of the table her face was pressed against. "I'm fine. I'm just _bored._ Everything's so _boring._ This is not what I signed up for! Everybody kept telling me how being at college would be the best years of my life! Well, where are they, Micchan? Where are they???? Where are the best years of my life?????"

Mitsuishi rolls his eyes, something Nao can't actually see, but assumes he's doing anyway. "Oh, _woe is me_ , I have a great boyfriend and a successful relationship, I'm living in a gorgeous apartment all by myself, where my parents can't bother me, and I'm acing all my classes! Oh, how tragic! How pitiful!"

"Shut up!" Nao hisses, aiming a punch at Mitsuishi's leg.

Mitsuishi yelps at the assault, huffing. "God, I forgot how strong you were."

Nao finally lifts her head up to look at Mitsuishi after that, frowning at him through the hair that was falling over her face. "Can't you be supportive here? As my best friend shouldn't you be a _little bit_ more sympathetic?"

Mitsuishi only raised an eyebrow in response to that. Their relationship had never been very warm and friendly, not in the traditional sense anyway. Mostly it was just teasing and ribbing and a lot of jokes at the other's expense. Nao liked them that way, all sly smirks and borderline insults, yet underneath it all a knowing that they trusted each other with their lives.

"So what is it that isn't working out then? Classes not tough enough for you? Uehara not paying enough attention to you? Or is he just bad in bed? Oh please tell me that's it. I would love it if pretty boy was actually trash between the sheets, that would be _so_ funny."

Nao attempts to punch him again, but this time he dodges right in time to miss her fist.

He grins smugly at her from the other end of the table, and Nao sighs.

"He's _fine_ in bed, I'll have you know. Pretty good, actually, not that I really have anyone else to compare it to. That's not the problem, it's just- it's not fun anymore. I don't get excited anymore when we're on our dates, like... like the spark is just gone, y'know? And what's worse is that I don't think he's even noticed, I don't think he even thinks anything's different. Which either means there was never any spark for him in the first place, or that he's more of an idiot than I thought. I don't think I like either of those answers."

Mitsuishi's expression sobers a bit at her confession, and he fixes her with this look that's just the right mix of stern and half disappointment.

Nao flinches a bit under that gaze.

"I told you, didn't I? A relationship can only last so long without love, and I _know_ you're not in love with him. You need to let him go, Nao, and then find someone that you would actually want to give your heart to. Or you can just sleep around with as many people as you want, no relationships, no commitments. I find that works pretty well for me."

She doesn't bring up the fact that he's only sleeping around now because Marina refuses to return his calls and he needs the distraction, but she figures that wound is still a little too raw to poke at, so she simply accepts his words with a mute nod.

"You're right." She mumbles, face twisted up like it was the last thing she wanted to admit. "I'll break up with him... eventually... maybe after a couple weeks... you know... when the semester's over..."

Mitsuishi scoffs. "Coward."

"He really _is_ good in bed, you know." She justifies.

*

Nao's never dumped anyone before.

She'd been dumped, once, by her first boyfriend, who left her for another girl that was pretty and unattainable yet still somehow miles more appealing than Nao herself. That break up had stung, made her cry a good deal. It had hurt, but it also been so shaming, so humiliating.

Nao figures she can at least spare Uehara the embarrassment part.

She'd still have to break his heart a little though, which she knew wouldn't be fun, or easy.

When Saeko comes into the picture, Nao wonders if she should be thankful. The older woman had stepped into their lives suddenly, with eyes that claimed Uehara like a prize, and Nao wondered if she could manage to make things a lot easier for Nao.

The more she thought about it though, the more guilty she felt. No matter how much she wanted, she couldn't just break up with Uehara and pin the reason on Saeko, on her fake fears and jealousy, not when she knew Uehara would've never been unfaithful, no matter how strong Saeko was coming on.

Ultimately that just meant that she'd have to tell him the truth. That she didn't love him, that she never really did.

She couldn't imagine him taking that very well.

Then, as if to make everything worse, Natsume waltzes in.

Natsume, who is ridiculously good looking and flirty and undoubtedly _experienced_ and very very dangerous.

He was the last thing Nao needed.

"Uehara's girlfriend?" Natsume asks, catching Nao by complete surprise one day.

Natsume was, for some reason, lounging on Uehara's couch, in Uehara's apartment, looking as if he belonged there.

Nao had came in to cook Uehara dinner (as she always did), and then froze right by the door when she caught sight of Natsume.

"Yoshikawa Nao." She replies, and if her voice is a little stiff and unfriendly, well, she can't help it.

Instead of being offended, Natsume grins wolfishly at the hostility instead. "Natsume Shu." He responds.

Nao nods in reply, so that he knows she heard him, and then busies herself in the kitchen, putting some groceries away as she gets started on dinner.

The whole time she can feel his eyes on her, watching her every movement. Every once in a while she lifts her eyes to catch him in the act, but instead of looking away, he just smiles at her, as if he wasn't at all ashamed of ogling his friend's girlfriend so openly.

 _God,_ she thought, _Natsume would be absolutely horrible for her._

(Which actually meant the opposite, really. Which actually meant that she thought he was very attractive and that they might be quite compatible, but that his timing was absolutely awful as she was supposed to be thinking about breaking up with Uehara at the moment.)

Uehara returns just as Nao's finishing up on dinner, thankfully so she didn't have to make any small talk with Natsume alone. But then Natsume invites himself to stay for dinner, and the three of them are huddled around Uehara's too small table and she's trying not to make it obvious that she was wondering what it would be like to kiss Natsume while he chats and laughs with Uehara.

Nao begins to insist Uehara come over for dinner at her apartment instead after that, which he obliges to despite being thoroughly confused.

Not that it ends up changing things much, because Natsume interrupts them anyway, butts his way into their lives regardless. Only now sometimes when he accidentally (but probably not accidentally at all) shows up too early, he's in her home instead of Uehara's. And oh, that is _so much worse._

*

**Nao:** i am having a crisis

 **Mitsuishi:**????

 **Nao:** i was three days into my 'get uehara to notice we aren't working anymore so he can break up with me first so that i don't have to' plan when this new guy shows up

 **Mitsuishi:** horrible plan. that's a garbage plan

 **Nao:** do you want to hear about the new guy or not???

 **Mitsuishi:** ugh fine. what's up with the new guy?

 **Nao:** he's hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he's flirty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Mitsuishi:** and you want to jump his bones??

 **Nao:** yes!!!!!!! which i really can't and shouldn't do because i'm technically still dating uehara so you can see why this would be a problem right?

 **Mitsuishi:** so just don't fuck him, it isn't that hard, nao

 **Nao:** no but listen. he's flirting with me all the time and shows up at my apartment when uehara's not there _on purpose_ because he probably knows i'm attracted to him and he doesn't seem to care at all that i'm uehara's girlfriend

 **Mitsuishi:** ok. that might be bad

 **Nao:** exactly!!!!! what do i do???????

 **Mitsuishi:** i'm pretty sure the answer is obvious here, dumbass. you break up with uehara, preferably some time in the next few days, and then you're all clear to sleep with the new guy

 **Nao:** .......

 **Mitsuishi:** please break up with him already before you make this any more dramatic than it has to be

 **Nao:** i hate men

 **Mitsuishi:** no i'm pretty sure the problem is that you like them too much

 **Nao:** okay, correction. i hate you

 **Mitsuishi:** love you too xx

*

Nao has it all planned out.

Dinner at her apartment, something nice but not too much, something comfortable, something familiar. Uehara coming over at seven. And then Nao breaking his heart.

It was all supposed to go over so smoothly. But then, of course, since the universe was constantly conspiring against her, Natsume shows up at her door at half past six.

"No." Nao says, when she opens the door to his cheeky little grin. "Not today. You are leaving. Goodbye."

Just before she can shut the door in his face, he sticks his foot in the gap between the door and slips his way into her apartment as she stumbles.

"Come on now, what's the harm in a little visit?" Natsume asks, even though he knows exactly why it's a problem.

Nao knows a lost cause when she sees one, so she simply shuts the door with a huff and walks up to Natsume with a fierce determination in her eyes.

"Uehara is coming over in half an hour and you will _not_ ruin this for me." She hisses.

He smiles as casually as he always does, seemingly not affected by her anger at all. "Got a big romantic night planned?"

"Yes." Nao lies, getting increasingly more frustrated the longer he was still standing in front of her. "I'm making him his favourite dish for dinner and then he's going to fuck my brains out until I'm weak at the knees, so can you _please_ go?"

Natsume is caught completely off guard by her language (specifically the _fuck my brains out_ section of her sentence), mouth dropping open slightly, before he's breaking out into wild laughter.

"You-" He chokes out, in between breaths, "you're nothing at all like Uehara said you'd be."

Nao frowns, crossing her arms over her chest. "And what does that mean?"

"Well," Natsume starts, reaching out to toy with a strand of her hair that had fallen from the bun she'd tied it up in earlier that night, "he gave me the impression you were this young, innocent little thing. Turns out you're quite the opposite, aren't you? You seem perfectly capable of handling yourself, and certainly not as innocent as he seems to believe you are."

Nao's breath gets caught in her throat at the look he sends her, the want she sees in his gaze. It makes excitement thrum just beneath her veins and _oh,_ she'd missed that sensation.

"Yes, well, every couple needs a few secrets between them, don't they?"

She knows that is the entirely wrong thing to say when his mouth twitches into a smirk as soon as the word _secrets_ leave her lips.

He leans in closer, and she can't find it in herself to step away.

"And me? Am I your next big secret?"

Nao really only has so much self control.

She's pulling Natsume's head down and kissing the breath out of him before she fully realises what she's doing.

He's only entirely too happy to comply, his arms quickly winding around her waist as he returns the kiss with a fevered strength.

(Natsume turns out to be sinfully good kisser, and Nao is only that much more doomed.)

*

Nao is so wracked with guilt that for the rest of the week she goes out of her way to please Uehara however she can.

It's sort of counterproductive, she knows, but she can't help it. Whenever she sees his face she thinks about Natsume, and kissing Natsume, and almost sleeping with Natsume, and feels so guilty that she has to do something to make up for it, even if Uehara was none the wiser.

She becomes the kind of girlfriend she knows Uehara has always wanted. And she knows it's confusing, and she knows it'll only hurt him more in the end, but Nao's always been kind of stupid like that. Going backwards instead of forwards.

Today, she has the fortune of showing up at the lab while Uehara isn't there.

Saeko is all too glad to accompany her while they wait for Uehara's return.

Nao is a little unnerved, and a little intimidated. But she doesn't have anything against Saeko, not really.

"Sorry," Saeko says suddenly, smiling kindly at her, "you must be upset with how much I've been hogging Uehara's time lately."

Nao shakes her head, offering her own polite smile back. "It's okay, I understand! His work is important to him, I get that."

"He's lucky to have a girlfriend like you."

Nao stiffens a bit, knowing that she really wasn't as good of a girlfriend as any of them thought, but kept the smile on her face anyway.

They make somewhat awkward small talk for the next few minutes, none of what they're saying really meaning anything. But then Saeko starts dropping in mentions of how she spends time with Uehara sometimes outside of work, how they seem to run into each other a lot, and she looks at Nao as if she's waiting for a reaction, and Nao suddenly realises what she's trying to do.

So Nao drops the act, and sighs heavily.

Saeko is jolted a little by the sudden attitude shift.

"You know what?" Nao says, smiling genuinely now. "Uehara? You can have him."

Saeko coughs. "Wait... what?"

"I was planning on breaking up with him anyway." Nao replies, shrugging. "So you can have him."

Saeko falls silent for a moment, too shocked to say a word, but then she's bursting out into laughter, surprised and pleased at the same time.

"You're certainly an interesting one. Not so much little miss nice and pure anymore, huh?"

Nao pouts at that description. "I was never that, you know. Uehara just doesn't seem to realise."

Saeko grins at her, seemingly having decided that they were friends now. "I'm not entirely surprised. I'd guess that out of the two of you, he might actually be the innocent one."

"You might be right." Nao nods.

"That's just my type." Saeko affirms, smiling coyly.

She doesn't tell Saeko that Uehara probably won't live up to her expectations as a boyfriend, that Saeko might end up with more than she bargained for in the end. But she keeps that bit to herself. She'll let Saeko learn that lesson on her own.

*

**Mitsuishi:** please tell me it's happening now

 **Nao:** i can't do it i'm just going to have to stay his girlfriend until he inevitably catches me cheating

 **Mitsuishi:** just TELL HIM

 **Nao:** it's HARD

 **Mitsuishi:** it's really not

 **Nao:** i don't want to make him sad!!!!!

 **Mitsuishi:** you don't have a choice!!!!!!

 **Nao:** aaaAAAAAAAA

 **Mitsuishi:** you're going to end up breaking his heart one way or another, you owe it to him to be honest at least

 **Nao:** ...what if i text it to him

 **Mitsuishi:** he literally lives right next door to you, you wouldn't be able to avoid him forever

 **Nao:** shit

 **Mitsuishi:** just get it over with

 **Nao:** can you be there? for moral support?

 **Mitsuishi:** no. i am not holding your hand through this. you have to break up with him on your own

 **Nao:** aw come on

 **Mitsuishi:** ... tell you what. i'll bring over pizza after you're done and let you force me into watching those shitty rom coms you like so much, ok?

 **Nao:** ........ fine

 **Mitsuishi:** :)

 **Nao:** as if you don't cry during the credits every time you watch those 'shitty rom coms' with me

 **Mitsuishi:**... don't you have a boyfriend to dump?

 **Nao:** i hate you

 **Mitsuishi:** xoxo

*

In the end, after all that fretting and guilt and messiness, Uehara says it first.

"Let's break up."

Nao blinks, and wonders if she's dreaming. "What?"

"Let's break up." He repeats.

"Wh- uh- you- _what_?" She splutters, not really sure what to say, or how to react.

Uehara sighs, as if _he's_ the one who's tired. "Things have been kinda weird, yeah? I don't know if you noticed, but it's just kind of like... we're not really in the same place anymore."

"I- um- yes. I mean, yes, I get it, I- I know what you mean." Nao stutters, still very much shocked.

Uehara nods. "I think maybe it's time we cut our losses. It was fun while it lasted, but it's time to say goodbye."

That's all he leaves her with, before he disappears out the door.

Nao thinks to herself _what,_ and then drops her head onto the table with a loud thunk.

"This is... amazing..." Mitsuishi says later, in-between loud barks of laughter, after she retells the story.

"Shut up. Stop enjoying this." Nao grumbles.

"I guess your 'get Uehara to notice we aren't working anymore so he can break up with me first so that I don't have to' plan ended up working out after all." He quips, grinning.

She groans, more than a little mortified at the sudden turn of events, before she eventually succumbs to the laughter too.

The pizza and the romance movies turns out to be more of a celebration event than anything else, and at the end of the night, Mitsuishi and Nao are leaning against each other on the couch, half eaten pizza slices in their hands, fast asleep.

The morning after that, when Nao wakes to a stiff neck and cramped legs, she marvels at the feeling of being newly single again, of being free from having to pretend she loved a man she didn't.

And then Natsume is knocking at her door, and she opens it with a much too energetic swing.

"Natsume?" She asks, a little startled at his well timed appearance.

Natsume eyes her disheveled state, quirking a brow at her. "Are you free?"

Nao blushes a bit, smoothing down the wrinkles in her skirt as she nods. "I am, why?"

Natsume opens his mouth to answer, but then in that exact moment, Mitsuishi is walking out of the bathroom, towel in his hand, in the middle of drying his hair.

"Nao, did you-" Mitsuishi starts, before realising there was someone at the door. "Uh... hey."

Nao turns back to look at Mitsuishi, rolling her eyes. "Natsume, Mitsuishi. Mitsuishi, Natsume."

Mitsuishi nods at Natsume. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Natsume replies, suddenly tense.

There's another second of a somewhat awkward silence before Mitsuishi says something about having to get home, and then he's leaving in a bit of a rush, accidentally bumping Natsume's shoulder as he walks past him by the door.

"So," Nao says once Mitsuishi's gone, "why did you come here again?"

Natume has this expression on his face though, something a little pinched and uncomfortable. "I heard that you ended it with Uehara, and I was wondering if you needed some cheering up. But clearly you're perfectly fine, and you've already found a replacement, so I'll just go-"

When he turns to leave, Nao darts her hand out to grab his arm, spinning him back around to face her.

"Oh, honestly. Are you jealous?" She asks, impatient, though she's a little amused too.

"What- no, I-"

"You have no reason to be. Mitsuishi's my best friend, he just stayed the night yesterday after me and Uehara broke up. I'm not just sleeping with every boy I land my eyes on, you know."

There's half a moment where it looks like Natsume doesn't quite believe her, but then he seems to realise she's being sincere, and smiles that familiar carefree smile once again.

"Right. Well. Since you _are_ free, how about a date?"

Nao rolls her eyes, a little exasperated and a little fond at the same time. "Alright, just give me a few minutes to get ready."

(They hadn't exactly gotten off to an ideal start, but secretly Nao thought Natsume would be just the right person to try falling in love with.)

**Author's Note:**

> did i essentially reinvent nao's entire personality? perhaps. oops


End file.
